1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for recording an information signal supplied by a signal source in a record carrier without loss of part of the information signal at the beginning of a recording, comprising processing means for processing the information signal and for supplying a recording information signal, input means for supplying activation information and wait information, and operating means, cooperating with at least a part of the processing means and with the input means, for effecting a recording of a recording information signal in the record carrier in dependence upon the occurrence of the activation information, and for effecting a consecutively overwriting storage of the recording information signal in a temporary store at least in dependence upon the occurrence of the wait information.
The invention further relates to a method of recording an information signal in a record carrier without loss of part of the information signal at the beginning of a recording, the method comprising the steps: processing the information signal and supplying a recording information signal, generating activation information and wait information, recording the recording information signal in dependence upon the occurrence of the activation information, and storing, in a consecutively overwriting fashion, the recording information signal in a temporary store at least in dependence upon the occurrence of the wait information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a device of the type defined in the first paragraph and such a method of the type defined in the second paragraph, are known, for example, from European Patent Application No. EP 0 440 017 B1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,092. The known device includes processing means comprising a receiving device and a temporary store which follows the receiving device and is formed by an endless-loop magnetic tape. The length of the endless-loop magnetic tape dictates the maximum recording time of the temporary store. The known device further includes operating means, also comprising the afore-mentioned temporary store, as well as a recording device for recording recording information signals on a record carrier, the record carrier being formed by a magnetic tape, just as the temporary store, but not by an endless-loop magnetic tape, as in the case of the temporary store.
In the known device, received information signals are recorded in the temporary store as recording information signals and are reproduced from the temporary store delayed by the maximum recording time of the temporary store. The recording information signals, which have been reproduced with a time delay, are recorded on the record carrier. Thus, at the beginning of a recording on the record carrier, this recording being initiated by activation information, the recording information signal, recorded in the temporary store before the occurrence of the activation information and subsequently reproduced from the temporary store, is first recorded on the record carrier for a period of time corresponding to the maximum recording time in the temporary store, and subsequently, the recording information signal, received after the occurrence of the activation information and also recorded in the temporary store and then read from the temporary store, is recorded on the record carrier.
However, it has been found that in the known device, the recording information signals recorded on the record carrier have a signal quality which is degraded in comparison with that of the received information signals, this being attributable to the recording in the temporary store and the subsequent read-out from the temporary store. Moreover, the period of time is fixed by the length of the endless-loop magnetic tape and is limited, so that it is not possible to adapt the period of time to the given application. Furthermore, as a result of the fact that recording information signals are recorded on the record carrier delayed by the period of time, this imposes limitations on the use of the device because the period of time needs to pass before any further steps can be taken. Besides, realizing a temporary store by means of an endless-loop magnetic tape is expensive and complicated.
It is an object of the invention to preclude the afore-mentioned problems in a device of the type defined in the first paragraph and to improve a device of the type defined in the first paragraph and a method of the type defined in the second paragraph, and provide an improved device and an improved method which guarantee that information signals are recorded without loss of an information signal portion at the beginning of a recording, i.e., at the beginning of a recording process, in a simple manner and by simple means.
According to the invention, in order to achieve this object in a device of the type defined in the first paragraph, an arbitrarily assignable area of the record carrier is selected as temporary store and the operating means starts a consecutively overwriting storage of a recording information signal in an area of the record carrier selected as a temporary store in dependence upon the occurrence of a wait information, and the operating means stops a consecutively overwriting storage of a recording information signal in an area of the record carrier selected as a temporary store, in dependence upon the occurrence of an activation information, and the operating means generates and records a recording information signal which includes information signal packets and address signal packets, the information signal packets corresponding to the information signals and the address signal packets including address information by means of which, during a reproduction of information signal packets recorded in an area of the record carrier selected as temporary store and information signal packets recorded in further areas of the record carrier, the time sequence of the reproduced information signal packets can be defined for the purpose of linking said information signal packets.
By means of the measures in accordance with the invention, it is achieved, in a simple manner, that, as compared with the received information signals, the signal quality of the recording information signals recorded on the record carrier is not degraded as a result of an additional recording process in a separate temporary store and an additional reproduction process from the separate temporary store. Moreover, it is possible to vary the recording time in the temporary store, i.e., the period of time, by selecting or defining an arbitrarily large part of the record carrier as the temporary store, thus enabling the maximum recording time of the temporary store to be adapted to the given case of use, no delayed recording of recording information signals in the record carrier occurs, as a result of which no time limitations are imposed on the use of the device. Furthermore, a substantial cost reduction is achieved in that a separate temporary store is obviated.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means generates and records at least one item of linkage address information in dependence upon the occurrence of activation information following the wait information, whereby at least one item of linkage address information, during reproduction of information signal packets recorded in the record carrier, information signal packets reproduced from an area of the record carrier selected as temporary store and further reproduced information signal packets can be linked together in their appropriate time sequence, and by means of which also the first information signal packet recorded in the record carrier in dependence upon the occurrence of activation information can be linked, during reproduction, after the last information signal packet recorded in the area of the record carrier selected as temporary store. Thus, it is achieved, in a simple manner, that during reproduction, the information signal packet recorded in the temporary store directly before the occurrence of activation information, is reproduced directly before the first information signal packet recorded in the record carrier in dependence upon the occurrence of the activation information.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means generates and records at least one item of linkage address information whereby, during reproduction, an information signal packet, recorded in an area of the record carrier selected as temporary store, can be linked after the information signal packet recorded in the record carrier directly before the occurrence of wait information. Thus, a device is obtained in which it is also possible, during reproduction, to insert only a part of the information signal packets recorded in the temporary store into the information signal packets recorded on the record carrier. Consequently, the period of time during which the information signal packets are reproduced from the temporary store, can be selected freely within a time interval not longer than the maximum recording time in the temporary store, and can be adapted to the given application. Such an adaptation of the period of time to an application can also be effected afterwards.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means generates and records at least one item of linkage address information whereby, during reproduction, an information signal packet, recorded in an area of the record carrier selected as temporary store and arranged as the next information signal packet to be overwritten upon termination of the consecutively overwriting storage in the area of the record carrier selected as temporary store, can be linked after the information signal packet recorded in the record carrier directly before the occurrence of wait information. In this way, it is achieved that the maximum recording time in a temporary store to which wait information and activation information is assigned, is used as the period of time, and that during reproduction, all the information signal packets stored in the temporary store are inserted between the information signal packet recorded on the record carrier before the occurrence of the wait information and the information signal packet recorded on the record carrier in dependence upon the activation information. Thus, all the recording information signals recorded on the record carrier are reproduced during reproduction, and the recording capacity of the record carrier is utilized in a particularly advantageous manner.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has also proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means generates and records at least one item of linkage address information whereby, during reproduction, an information signal packet, recorded in an area of the record carrier selected as temporary store and arranged at a given distance before the last information signal packet recorded upon termination of the consecutively overwriting storage in the area of the record carrier selected as temporary store, can be linked after the information signal packet recorded in the record carrier directly before the occurrence of wait information. In this way, it is achieved that the period of time is set to a given time which is always the same and corresponds to the given distance, and that information signals recorded during this fixed period of time before the occurrence of activation information, can be reproduced before the information signal packets recorded after the occurrence of the activation information. Moreover, it is possible to prolong the period of time subsequently to the maximum recording time in the temporary store.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means overwrites address information recorded in the record carrier with linkage address information. Thus, it is achieved, in a simple manner, that address information in address signal packets can also be overwritten subsequently by linkage address information and, consequently, an information signal packet associated with an address signal packet can also be re-sequenced afterwards. Moreover, this results in an optimum use of the recording capacity in the record carrier.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means selects, as the temporary store, an area of the record carrier which directly adjoins that area of the record carrier in which an information signal packet has been recorded immediately before the occurrence of the wait information. In this way, it is achieved that, in the case that the time between the instant at which wait information occurs and the instant at which activation information occurs is shorter than the maximum recording time in the temporary store, the information signal packets recorded in the temporary store are inserted in the information signal packets recorded time-sequentially on the record carrier without address information being overwritten by linkage address information. As a result of this, a defragmentation of information signal packets, as known from the field of computer technology, is not necessary.
In the case of such a defragmentation of information signal packets, information signal packets which, during reproduction, are reproduced directly after one another on the basis of linkage address information, are rearranged in adjacent areas on the record carrier. This provides faster access to the information signal packets during reproduction. For the above application, a device in accordance with the invention does not require defragmentation of information signal packets, which saves processing time in the device and device costs.
Conversely, when the time between the instant at which wait information occurs and the instant at which activation information occurs, is longer than the maximum recording time in the temporary store, the direct contiguity of information signal packets which succeed one another in time on the record carrier is disrupted at not more than three positions, i.e., the beginning of the temporary storage area, the end of the temporary storage area and the end of the recording in the temporary store, the positioning paths to be covered on the record carrier being dictated only by the size of the temporary store, as a result of which they can be kept sufficiently small for any application.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has also proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the operating means cooperates with a random-access or quasi-random-access memory as the record carrier. With such a random-access or quasi-random-access memory, which allows a particularly rapid location of a storage address of an information signal packet of an arbitrary area of the record carrier for recording an information signal packet and for reproducing the information signal packet, it is possible to realize a temporary store in a particularly effective manner by means of an arbitrarily definable area of the record carrier.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the device includes a built-in record carrier. In this way, a device in accordance with the invention can be realized in a particularly cheap, compact and mechanically robust manner.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the device further comprises holder means for holding a record carrier and from which a record carrier being held can be removed. In this way, a multiplicity of record carriers can be processed one after the other in the device.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the holder means holds a solid-state memory accommodated in a protective carrier as a record carrier. In a record carrier formed by a semiconductor memory, a part of the record carrier can be defined particularly simply as a temporary store. Moreover, a semiconductor memory does not have any moving parts, as a result of which a long life of the device in accordance with the invention is achieved.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the holder means holds an optically scanned disc as a record carrier. By means of an optically scanned disc, which can be, for example, a DVD-RAM, an MO Disc, a CD Rewritable or an MD Disc, it is also possible to define a very large area of the record carrier as a temporary store in a particularly simple and cheap manner.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has also proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the holder means holds a magnetically scanned disc as a record carrier. A magnetically scanned disc, which can, for example, be formed by a hard-disc drive, provides particularly short access times to the information signal packets recorded on the record carrier, as a result of which information signal packets with a very high data rate, for example, video signals, can be reproduced from such a disc with a satisfactory reproduction speed.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has further proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the holder means holds a magnetic-tape cassette which accommodates a magnetic tape as a record carrier. In this way, a magnetic tape, which is a very cheap bulk storage device, can be used as record carrier in a device in accordance with the invention.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has also proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the device is constructed as a video recorder for recording video signals and audio signals. In this way, a low-cost video recorder is obtained, for which a delayed recording decision does not lead to loss of part of the information at the beginning of a recording.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has also proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the device is constructed as a dictation device for recording speech signals, preferably as a speech-controlled dictation device which can be activated by speech signals to be recorded. In this way, a low-cost dictation device is obtained, for which a delayed recording decision does not lead to loss of part of the speech signal at the beginning of a recording and, in the preferential case of a voice-controlled version, a dictation device for speech signal recording is obtained which also, in the case of a recording controlled by a threshold detector, prevents loss of a part of a speech signal at the beginning of a recording.
In a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, it has also proven to be advantageous if, in addition, the device is constructed as a data storage device for recording digital data supplied by a signal source. In this way, digital data received from the data storage device can be tested for validity and relevance for the user, and in the case of a positive test result, the digital data can be recorded without loss of a part of the digital data at the beginning of the recording.
In order to achieve the afore-mentioned object, a method of the type defined in the second paragraph is characterized in that the method includes the further steps: selecting an arbitrarily assignable area of the record carrier as a temporary store, starting a consecutively overwriting storage of a recording information signal in the area of the record carrier selected as the temporary store in dependence upon the occurrence of a wait information, stopping a consecutively overwriting storage of the recording information signal in the area of the record carrier selected as the temporary store in dependence upon the occurrence of activation information, and generating and recording the recording information signal, which includes information signal packets and address signal packets, the information signal packets corresponding to the information signals and the address signal packets including address information, whereby, during a reproduction of information signal packets recorded in an area of the record carrier selected as temporary store and information signal packets recorded in further areas of the record carrier, the time sequence of the reproduced information signal packets can be defined for the purpose of linking said information signal packets. In this way, advantages which correspond to the advantages described hereinbefore for a device in accordance with the invention having the characteristic features defined above, are obtained for a method in accordance with the invention.
The afore-mentioned aspects as well as further aspects of the invention will be apparent from the embodiments described hereinafter by way of examples and will be elucidated with reference to these embodiments.